Sling



June 19, 1934. F, E, STAHL, Er A| 1,963,634

SLING Filed March 1. 1953 FRANK E. STAHL f/-J/ALFRED C-oTEswoRTH *n v8.0m',whengreleased.

.The above objects and advantageshave been- Patented June 19,l 19234 Pmmfomc Co.; Tonawanda, York A N.V Y., al corporation of New Applcatibn MarchV 1,71933tfsial N. '659,112 v s claims. (0mm-75) invention relates in general-to slings, and

more particularlyto thatk typeof'sling used in the handling of sugar-cane.' Although the invention iskdesigned particularly for handling-sugar-l 5 cane, lit yis :obvious that it may be used for;

handling bundles of other 4materialswith equal eniciency.

It is well known to those skilled in the art that a ring at one endof the chain is usuallyused with l such'a sling, as hereinbefore described, but that the ring many times breaks in use, and that 'unlessl the one or more links at the free end of the chain can be astenedrto the sling, unavoidabledelays are caused bythe making of necessary repairs. lg- Qneofthe principal objects of o ur invention hasbeen to providea sling vhavinga hook which may be'used`with a ring or not,l as desired.-A Another Y object hasl been to provide la slingv having a hook on which it s hall be impossible for -go then links of the chain to catch when thechain is released, whether the chain is fastened to the hook by means of a ring or one or more of thelinksfof the chain.,;A i

AnotherV4 bject has been toprovide ya slingso j2m5- constructedfthat the chain may be easily drawn therethrough when supporting the load s0 as; to take uprallslackzinthe chain, and one which shall securely lock` the chain against Y`passage through the sling in oppositeV direction, except accomplished bythe device shownin the vaccom Danville drawing, .Of which:

Y' Fig. 1 isa sectional elevation of my device, and-y .3 5 isrtakennon line 1-1 of Fig; 2. Y

Figj. 2 is aplanviewthereof. Fig. 3 is a transverse, sectional elevation thereof;;and is takenon line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig.f.1` is a frontV elevation Iof the,device show- Fig 5 s a sectional, plan View olf vthehookLand takenvonline 5-5 of Fig. 1. j The body of. our device is Aformed from twoside plates and 11, heldtogether by any suitableV ed means;v At one end of the bodythere is provided a guide roller 12 withwhich the chain 13 is en;l gageable. 'Asgshown ingFig. 1,1 the chain passes overgand; in contact with the inner face of the guideA roller and aroundgunderrthe same,'whence 5 0 it is'lpassedto andaround thebundle of Ysugarcane vor other material being handled. 'The guide roller; is -proyided with a circularly shapedgroove 11iwhich engages `those links which have vtheir planesatfright angles-tothe axis .of the guide 5 5 y roller, while the peripheral :flanges V15 actas abutmentsfor the alternate links of the Hereinafter we will referto the links which have their planes at right anglesto the axis of the guide roller as longitudinal links, and to the alternate links which are at right anglesv totheflongi- A tudinal linksask c rosswisey links. Y

Arranged in front of the guide roller and slidably heldV in the body is `a chain plunger20. This plunger is slidably mounted in suitable bear#v ings 21, 22, and 23. A helical spring 24 (see Fig. 65.

3) is mounted in a recess 25 formed in the plunger` and serves `tokeep .the Vsame `urged toward the guide roller. This plunger `is .provided at its forward end with a head 26 formed on its forward face ,with surfaces 27 and 28. A forwardly pro-v 70 jecting, central portion 29 Vlies between the-sur- 'faces 2'l.and 28 Vand isof substantially the same width as the width ofthe groove 1.4 ofthe roller.

A semi-circular recess 30 is formed in the for-- wardface` ofk thejportion 29 which engages with 75Y the longitudinal links as they are passing through between the plungerand theY roller. Undernormal conditions, orfwhen the chain is not Abeing passed through the. sling; the crosswise link 31 is held between the surfaces 2'7 and 28 of- `the plung` 80 er head 26 and the'pe'ripheries 15aofv the guide roller. Wheninsuchfposition the longitudinal link 32 immediately above the crosswise link 31 rests upon the head-of Lthe plunger.' The head of the lplunger is providedwith a curved indenta- V. i

tion 33 on its upper 'surface with which `the bottomy of the link 32 engages. The-plunger,r therefore, acts as a stop to prevent the chain' from, passing *downwardly vthrough the `sling. The'iforwardsurface of vthe head A26 of the 90- plunger is undercut,',as vshown in Fig; 1,2andisf provided with a groove 34*y to accommodate the upper end of the-link 35. Due to thefinclinedf `forward surface of the head 26 of the chain plunger',A l the plunger willbeiorcved backwardly 95* against the tension of the spring when the chain is lmoved upwardly through the sling to take upv the slack orto adjust the chain tothe size 'bung Y dle to'behandled. ADuring 'such movement, the linksy of the chain will be held by the guide roller and"'the `head of the plunger'in the vpositions shown in Fig. 1 and whenever acrosswise link` comes to a stop Ain vfront Aof theplunger 20, the plunger Vwill automatically engage such link `and 105 the link` immediately aboveit anddthus servel to holdthe chain in` liked positionf against downward movemenhfAn operatingarm 36 extendsv upwardly from the `plunger 20Whereby the same may be :i `ituatedl arm iSPrQVided. prefer' no CTI ably with a slot 37 for engagement with a finger or hook as desired.

Arranged at the opposite end of the body of the sling is the hook 40 of my device. This hook is pivotally mounted between the plates 10 and 11 of the body upon a pin 41. It is provided with a lip 42 and formed with a ring engaging surface 43. The forward side of the hook is provided with interspaced flanges 44 and 45, thus forming a centrally arranged ,.l'recess 46 for engagement with one of the longitudinal links 49. Formed in the flanges 44 and 45 of the hook are two circular recesses which lie in a plane at right angles to the plane of the recess 46 and with which the crosswise link 51 is engageable to hold the end of the chain securely in the hook when the end of the chain is used instead of the ring (not shown) hereinbefore referred to.'v The hook is provided with an inwardly extending heel 52.

having a latch 53 at its extreme inner end. A hook plunger 54 is slidably mounted within the sideplate 11 of the body of the device and the forward end of this plunger is engageable with thelatch 53 to prevent the counter-clockwise movement of the latch. The plunger 54 is carried in suitable bearings 55, 56,' and 57 and it is provided with a recess 58 in which is mounted a helical spring 59, whereby it is kept normally in the position shown in the drawing.

Carriedbetween the side plates is a release lever 60. This lever is pivotally mounted upon a pin 6l and has a depending cylindrical portion 62 which is disposed between upstanding, interspaced ears 63 carried by the hook plunger. The upper end 64 of the lever is provided with an aperture 65 with which a bar may be engaged to move the'plunger backwardly to release the latch 53 of the hook. The hook is provided with an overhanging lip 65 which engages the edge of the plate-11 of the body to limit further inward movement of the hook.

When our device is to be put into use, sufficient chain is passed between the chain plunger 20 and guide roller 12 toaccommodate the size of bunvfdle being handled and the free end is passed about the bundle, and if desired the ring usually furnished at the end of such chain may be engagedV with the surface 43 of the hook 40. If no ring is provided at the end of the chain or if itis desired not to use it, any of the links near the end Vof the chain may be engaged with the recesses 46 and 50 in the face of the hook, as shown in Figs. 1 andY 5. When the ring or the links at the end of the chain have been engaged with the hook, and the derrick raises the chain, the slack in the chain will be taken up by passage of the chain between the head 26 of the chain plunger 20 and the guide roller 12. Durin g such taking-up movement, the chain plunger will be forced back and forth in its bearings against the tension of the spring 24 as each of the longitudinal links is passed between it and the roller. Since the single chain carries the load being lifted, it is not necessary that the reverse movement of the chain through the sling be prevented, but should one of the crosswise links come to a stop opposite the chain plunger when the load is being supported, the plunger would engage the opening of such link. When it is desired to release the load, a suitable rod (not shown) may be engaged with the release lever and is operated so as to withdraw this lever from engagement with the latch 53 of the heel 52 of the hook. When so released, the hook 4o will be permitted to rotate in a counter-clockwise di-Y rection under the weight of the load and the end of the chain, whether engaged with the hook by means of its links or by means of a ring will be freely disconnected therefrom. When the links of the chain are used to engage the hook, the chain will be freely disengaged from the hook without possibility of any of the links catching on any portions of the hook.

Obviously, some modifications of the details herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit of our invention or the scope of the appended claims, and we do not, therefore, wish to be limited to the exact embodiment herein shown and described, the form sh'own being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

Havingthus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. The combination with an open link chain, of a sling comprising a body, a guide roller at one end of the body for engagement with the upward pass of the chain, a hook pivotally mounted at the opposite end of the body, the hook being formed with an unbroken ring engaging portion and with recesses in its forward surface for engagement with the links of the free end of the chain, and latch means for releasably holdi ing the hook in locked position.

2. The combination with an openlink chain,

of a sling comprising a body, a guideV roller atv one end ofthe body for engagementwith the upward pass of the chain, a hook pivotally mounted at the opposite end of the body, the hook being formed with an unbroken ring engaging portion, interspaced fianges formed at the forward side of the hook for the accommodation of longi tudinally arranged links of the chain, the flanges being formed with recesses for the engagement of crosswise links of the chain, and latch means for releasably holding the hook in locked po sition.

3. The combination with an open link chain, of a sling comprising a body, a guide'roller at one end of the body for engagement with the upward pass of the chain, a hook pivotally mounted at the opposite end of the body, the hook being formed with an unbroken ring engaging portion and with recesses in its forward surface for engagement with the links of the free end of the chain, latch means for releasably holding Vthe hook in locked position, and a chain plunger mounted for reciprocating movement in the body and coacting with the guide roller to lockingly hold the upper pass of chain in position.`

4. The combination with an open'link chain, of a sling comprising a body, a guide roller at one end of the body for engagement with the upward pass of the chain, a hook pivotally mounted vat the opposite end ofthe body, thehook being formed with an unbroken ring engaging portion and with recesses inA its forward surface for engagement with the links of the free end of thechain, and a hook plunger mounted for reciprocating movementin the body and engageable with the hook for releasably holding the same in its locked posi tion.

5. The combination `with an open link chain, of a sling comprising a body, a guide roller'at one end of the body for engagement with the upward. pass of the chain, a hook pivotally mounted at'the opposite end of the body, the hook being formed with an unbroken ring engaging portion and with recesses in its forward surface for 'engagement with the links of the free end of the chain, a vchainV plunger mounted vfor reciprocating movement inI the body and coacting with the guide roller to lockingly hold the upper pass of chain in position, and a, hook plunger mounted for reciprocating movement in the body and engageable with the hook for releasably holding the same in its locked position.

6. The combination with an open link chain, of a sling comprising a body, a. guide roller at one end of the body for engagement with the upward pass of the chain, a hook pivotally mounted at Y the opposite end of the body, the hook being formed with an unbroken ring engaging portion, interspaced anges formed at the forward side of the hook for the accommodation of longitudi- 

